Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-30

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Send f6R Iflastl ated and Descriptive Cataloc
fore whom nigh 1000 years sgo Casp.r,
and Belthssar, snd Melchior oent their
tired knees in worship.
Behold also in that first Christmas night
that God honored the fields. Come in,
shepherd boys, to Bethlehem and see the
child. "No," they ssy; eve are not
dressed good enough to come in" Eyes,
you are, come in" Sure enough, tbs
storms and the night dew, and the BRAN
oles have made rough work with their
apparel, but none have 6 better right to
come in. They were the first to hear the
music of that Christmas night. The first
announcement of q HSavior's birth was
made to those men in the fields There
were wiseacres that night in Bethlehem
and Jerusalem snoring in deep sleep, and
there were sslaried officers of government
who, hearing of it afterward, may have
thought that they ought to have had the
first news Of such great event,
some one dismountlng from 8
swift camel at their door and knocking
till at some sentinels question, "Who
comes there?" the great ones of the pal :
ace might have been told of the celes-
tisl arrival. No, the shepherds heard
the first two bars of the music, the first in
the ms or key and the last in the sub
aued minor: Glory to God in the high
est, and on earth peace, goodwill to
men" All, yes, the fields were honored.
The old shepherds with plaid and crook
have for the most part vanished, but we
have grazing on our United States pas
ture fields and prairies about 40, 0OO, 900
Sheppard all their keepers ought 10
follow the shepherds of my text, snd
al those who toll in fields, ell wire
dressera, all oIchardists, all husbsndmen.
Mt only that Christmas night, but all up
and down the worlds history God has
bsen honoring the fields. Near,y all the
Messiahs of reform, and literature, and
elCQuence, and law, and benevoieaCe
have =
COME FROM THE FIELDS.
Washington from the fields. Jefferson
from the fields. The Presidential mar
tyrs, Garfield and Lincoln, from the,
fields. Henry Clsy from the fields.
Daniel Webster from the fields.
Martin Luther from the fields. And be
fore this world is right the overlooking
populations Of our crowded cities vii.
cave TO take to the fields. Instead of ten
merchants in rivalry as to who shall sell
that one apple, we want ct least eight CT
them to get out and raise epples In
stead Of ten merchants desiring to sell
that one bushel of wheat, we want at
least eight of them 10 go out and raise
wheat. The world wants now more
hard hands, more brorzad cheeks, more
muscular arms. To the fields, God
hoEored them when he woke up the
shepherds by the midnight anthem, and
he will, while the world lasts, con tinue to
honor the fields. When the shepherds
crook WAS that famous night stood against
the wall Of the Bethlehem kahn,
it was q prophecy Of the time when
thresher's fail, and farmers plough, and
woodman's axe, and CX's yoke, and sheaf
binders rake shall surrender to the God
who made the country as man made the
town.
Behold also. that On that Christmas
hight God honored motherhood. Two
angels On their wings might have brought
an Infant Savior to Bethlehem without
MsrY's being there at sill. When the vii
lsgers, on the morning Of December 26,
awoke, by divine arrangement and in
some unexplained way, the child Jesus
might h.ve been found Ia some comfort
able cradle Of the village. But no, no!
Motherhood for all time was to be conse-
Grated, and one OF the tenderest relations
was to be the maternal relation, and one
of the sweetest words "Mother." In oil
sges God.
HAS HONORED GOOD MOTHERHOOD.
John Wesley had a good mother, ST.
Bernard had good mother, Samuel
Budget good mother, Doddridge g
good mother, Walter Scott good
mother, Bebjsmin West good mo Ter.
In great audience, most of whom were
asked that all those who had
been blessed of Christian mothers arise,
and almost the entire assembly stood up.
Don't you see how important it is that all
be c2nsecrated? Why 6ii
Titien, the italian artist, when he
sketched the Madonna make it an Italian
face? Why did Rubens, the German art
list, in his Madonns make it s German
face? Why did Joshua Reynolds, the
English artist, in his Madonns, make it
40 English face? Why did Murillo, the
Spanish artist, in his Madonna make 1t
Spanish face? l never heard, but l think
that they took their own mothers as the
type Of Mary, the Mother OF Christ. When
you hear some one in sermon or Grafton
speak in the abstract Of good, faithful.
honest mother, your eyes fill up with
tears while you say to yourself, that was
my mother. The first word child ut
ters is apt to &c, "mother," and the old
nsn in his dying dream calls, "mother,
mother!" 1t matters not whether she
was brought uD in the surroundings of
city, and in affluent home, and was dressed
appropriately with reference to the de-
mands OF modern life, or whether she
wore the olc-time cap, and great round
spectscles, and apron of her own make,
and knit your socks with her own needles
seated by the broad fireplace, with great
back log ablszs on winter night. /.
matters not how many wrinkles crossed
md recrossed her face, or how mucn her
shoulders stopped with the burdens OF
ong life, if you painted Madonna hers
would be the face.
WHAT A GENTLE HAND
The had when we were sick and what S |
7oice 10 soothe pain and vas there any
,ne who could SO ILL up room with |
peace and purity aud ligbt? And whst q |
sad day that wss when We came home |
md she could greet Us rot, for her lips
we're forever still. Come bsck, mother, |
bis Christmas day and take your old /
place and, as ten or twenty or fifty years
ago, come ard open the old Bible you
used to read and kneel in the same place
where Won used TO pray and look upon US |